Taking a Stab at: SCG Boston

Two weeks ago, a couple of friends and I made our way to Boxborough, Massachusetts. Why, what was happenithere? Well, ever heard of the Star City Games Open Series? Well, this weekend was SCG Boston. Yeah, it was in Boxborough, go figure. Anyway, I am going to avoid talking to you about my epic fail at the Standard Open playing my Jumanji list hasn’t been updated in months. Nor am I going to touch on finishing 23rd in the first Draft Open.

I think I mainly just want to talk about the fun I had. Also, some tips on how to survive a weekend in SCG Land.

Preparing for a weekend of Magic

The first thing is to decide if you’re going to go to Day 1 or Day 2 or are you doing both. Are you going to need lodging, for how many people? Or do you live close enough to go back and forth? These are pretty important things to consider. SCG opens are pretty pricey. Each Open event is $30 cash. Most of the side events price out between $10 – $15. Oh, don’t forget there is the featured MTG artist booth. Or the card alters. And the vendor table. Like I said, its almost like going to an amusement park. There are some many trappings to spend money and most of them seem reasonable to do. And don’t forget to eat. But we’ll get to that in a different section.

My crew and I made a weekend vacation of our SCG Open experience. So, money was a bigger concern than it may be for you. But I recommend that unless you are there to JUST play the Standard or Legacy Opens, you should go to the venue packing about $100 per day. This allows you to do a bunch of things. You can go eat, play in an Open, maybe commission alter, buy some cards, compete in side events, etc. In short, you get a bit of the entire experience. And if you don’t spend all $100, good job. But thinking you can stay at the venue all day and spend absolutely no money, well good luck with that.

The wonderful friends you’ll make

I am a networking whore. At any major tournament there is two things I want to do. I strive to win it. Yeah, I still have enough of The Fire to want to win any tournament I go to. Secondary to that though, is I love meeting people. I have always been a social butterfly, so it isn’t really all that hard for me to be outgoing and talk to people. I am the player you may end up hating because I chat and crack jokes the whole time. Even during the players meeting I will yap away. Which, I’ve heard from people is generally viewed as weird. Oh well.

I view Magic as a pure outlet of fun. If I want to work, there is a pile of homework I could be doing for college. So, even at a large scale tournament like SCG Boston, I still want to, above all else, have a blast. Which is why after going 0-3 drop, I still had a blast. Because I met awesome people. Like Mark Hyzer, the featured MTG artist at the event. Mark didn’t big time people. In fact, he is probably one of the most humble people I have ever met. I had a blast just sitting down and talking to him about MTG, Bio Boosted Armor Guyver, Hobo with a Shotgun, and our shared hate for Jace of any variety. And he made me a sick Red Site Wins playmat. You guys will get to see that in a separate post. Including a video of him drawing it!!!

I also got to become friends with some alterists and random players. There is nothing like talking about something like how much I admire a deck like Night Shift and then having a player who is piloting it come up to me and tell me he’s playing the deck. And then having conversations with him throughout the day and rooting for him to keep up his X-0 run. Even if he did finish 4-4. But the point is, be open to meeting people. You’ll be surprised the friends you’ll make.

Theft Prevention

This is more of a quick note. As far as I heard, but I am not all knowing, theft was kind of low at SCG Boston. I could be wrong, so don’t quote me on this. But, theft has been a big problem in Magic so I thought I put in my two cents about the topic. First and foremost, don’t ever ever ever leave your deck unattended. That is just a nightmare waiting to happen. Trust me, I almost lost my Legacy Elf deck this way. Second, I highly recommend only bringing what you need. If you are playing the Standard Open and doing trading; bring your Standard deck and a binder. While some people believe more is best, I think it is safer to take the time to compile a tourney trade binder. This should be composed of the stuff you want to move, the known trade staples, a few good dollar rares for bargaining chips, and EDH stuff. This keeps the stuff you need to keep track of during trades to a very low minimum. And finally, keep your bag at your feet. Not next to you. Not on the back of your chair. AT YOUR FEET!

Did you play Magic? Yes? Was it fun? Yes? Good.

At the end of it all, I have no regrets. Nothing got stolen, I got a foil Pentarch Paladin for my Knights Tribal deck, made new friends, met twitter peeps, and got a sick playmat. Good weekend is good. Oh and I played my first ever cube draft with Chingsung Chang ‘s,of GatheringMagic.com, cube. Which was sick. How did I manage that? By being friendly and knowing Jackie Lee. Bad at ending article? Check. ‘Till next time, peace love and ass kickings.

Amanda Stevens ~ @Sagegnosis

Advertisements

Share this:

Like this:

LikeLoading...

Related

About Amanda Stevens

My name is Amanda and I am a nerd. This fact will taint everything that will ever come out of my mouth. While I follow real world news, you would never know it. I prioritize most of my conversations around Magic the Gathering, anime, and League of Legends. Also, don't mention Green Lantern being gay to me, you will regret it.